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True Morality By C.C. Crawford We have heard so much in recent months about ethical positivism, ethical relativism, ethical nihilism, situationist ethics," the "traditional" morality, the "new" morality, etc., that there is little wonder that confusion in regard to the moral life is world-wide. The thesis of the most radical of these systems is well expressed by Jim Casey, in Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath: "There ain't no sin, there ain't no virtue - there's just stuff people do." We suppose to discuss here the true morality - the only morality that will properly undergird social order as well as provide for ultimate attainment of the Life Everlasting. A great many persons believe, and have long believed, that man is now in an unnatural state. Believing that he once enjoyed the personal favor of God and fellowship with Him, and that such favor and communion were lost by transgression, with the attendant consequences of sin, sickness and death over the entire earth, to the loss of those original privileges theologians have applied the term, "Fall." It has become fashionable, however, of late, to deny the facts reported by Moses in regard to man’s Edenic relation with Yahweh. Again quoting from Christopher (RS, 83); "There are some men who, pretending to believe in the Bible as a revelation from God, do yet, indeed, deny many of the most important facts recorded in it. . . . They deny that man was ever in a state higher, or different from that in which we now find him; and say that the story of the Fall is a myth, and the existence of sin the creature of a superstitious imagination. Hence they do not believe that the actions of men have a sinful character. Crime, with these men, is only an offense against the rights of society or of individuals, not a sin against God. They do not, indeed, deny that the actions of men have a moral character. This they cannot deny. But morality with them has reference only to men, none whatever to God. In denying the existence of sin they of course deny that the actions of men have a sinful character, however criminal the actions may be. They look upon criminal actions as no more than simple violations of moral laws, which men have wrought out and ordained for the government of men." Indeed there are many, many individuals, and even nations, in our day, who repudiate morality altogether: for morality they substitute expediency. There are many, too, who would eliminate sin from human thought and life by the employment of psychiatric and psycho-analytic devices calculated to remove the sense of guilt. And yet, if press releases are to be relied on, this is an age in which pride, ambition, greed, lust, violence, cruelty, racism, war, and every iniquity known to man, are rampant over the whole earth. Indeed the Biblical description of the state of things in the antediluvian age might well be used to picture our present world: "And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence" (Gen. 6:11; cf. Matt. 24:37-42). As usual, the error in this kind of thinking (the "new" morality) lies in the false premise from which it originates; namely, the meaning of morality. Morality is described as "conformity to a prescribed rule of conduct," or "conformity to the rule of right." Who, then, has prescribed the rule of conduct for man? To whom shall we go for the rule of right? There is but one answer that will stand the test: we must go to God, the Source of perfect wisdom, perfect love, and perfect justice. Every rule of right that mankind has knowledge of has its source in the will of God. This is precisely what the Apostle means when he says, "Is the law sin? God forbid. Howbeit, I had not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet" (Rom. 7:7). Morality, therefore, in its highest sense, is conformity to God's prescribed rule of conduct. For many centuries, this rule of conduct existed only in tradition; later, because of the transgressions of the race, it was embodied in negative form in the Mosaic Code, which was especially adapted to the Dispensation in which it was first revealed (Gal. 3:19). Later, with the advent and teaching of Messiah and His Apostles, this rule of right was put in positive form in “the perfect law of liberty" (Jas. 1:25). Christianity is this "perfect law of liberty," "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:2). Christianity came to abrogate and to supersede the Law of Moses (John 1:17, Gal. 3:24-25, Col. 2:14-16, Matt. 5:17-18). (The Christian System - the New Testament - incorporates all the moral principles of the Old; hence they are binding on Christians, not because they are in the Old, but because they have been re-enacted in the New. The sole exception is the law of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was a memorial of the deliverance of ancient Israel from Egyptian bondage, and hence has no meaning for Gentiles. All Christian assemblies, from the very beginnings of the Church, are held on the Lord's Day. [Exo. 20:1-17; Deut. 5:12-15; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10; Acts 14:15, 17:24; Eph. 4:6; 1 John 5:21; Matt. 5:34; 1 Cor. 6:9-10, 6:18, 5:9; Rom. 1:26-27; 2 Cor. 12:20-21; Gal. 5:19-21; Col. 3:5; l Tim. 1:9-10; Eph. 4:28, 4:25, 5:3; Col. 3:5; Luke 12:15; 1 Cor. 5:11; Rom. 13:1-10; 1 John 2:9, 3:15, 4:20. Cf. Matt, 8:5-13, Luke 7:2-10, Mark 15:39, Acts 10:1-8, etc.]. Surely these passages prove that a soldier can be a Christian. I find no absolute pacifism in the Bible.) Morality is, therefore, conformity to the rule of conduct prescribed in the teaching of Christ and His Apostles, as given us in the New Testament, and includes all of man's duties to God, to his neighbor, and to himself. He who conforms to the Will of Christ is moral; he who does not is, to the extent that he does not, immoral. Jesus said "Love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you" (Matt. 5:44). He who conforms to this law is moral; he who refuses to do so is immoral. Jesus commands us to be baptized (buried with Him in baptism and raised to walk in newness of life: Matt. 3:15, 28:19, John 3:3-5, Rom. 6:1-11). He who conforms to the Will of Christ in this matter, in obedience to this Divine ordinance, is moral; he, who refuses to do so, is immoral. Morality is far more comprehensive than the totality of one's duties to his fellows: it comprehends our attitude toward, and our treatment of, God. (Matt. 22:34-40). A crime is such with respect only to man's (positive) laws; but with respect to the (natural) law of God, it is sin (1 John 3:4). Viewed in this light, it is an indisputable fact that man has fallen: sin and crime exist on every hand, throughout the whole world. What, then, is the distinction between morality and religion? Is there any such distinction, in reality? What is religion, after all, but conformity to the Will of God, the obedience of love for God? What is morality, in the true sense of the term, but conformity to the Will of God, the obedience of love for God? The sum total of Biblical religion is expressed in the word obedience, not the obedience of craven fear, not the obedience that envisions mere status (respectability) as a result, but the obedience that is rendered out of one's pure love for God. (John 14:15; 15:10) There will be just two classes in the Judgment: those who have done and those who have not done God's Will as revealed in Christ Jesus (Matt. 7:24-27, Heb. 5:9, Rev. 22:14). & (From Genesis: The Book of the Beginnings, Volume Two, pages 300-303) Other Things To Do When it is time to worship God And to occupy my pew, Will I assemble with the saints Or find other things to do? When God needs my service to Him And wants me to help a few, Will I do what needs to be done Or find other things to do? When I sit down to rest awhile With quiet reading in view Will I read the Word of God Or find other things to do? When I stand before the throne And God renders what is due Will He grant me mercy or will He Find other things to do? Guy Orbison, Jr. Durango Disciple, Durango, CO [Via BULLETIN DIGEST, 844 Pine St, Abilene, TX 79601]
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